The invention relates generally to a continuous casting apparatus, especially an apparatus for the continuous casting of steel.
More particularly, the invention relates to a continuous casting mold and an associated support zone for a strand formed in the mold.
A mold for the continuous casting of steel slabs is generally made up of two pairs of spaced, parallel copper plates which cooperate to define a mold cavity. The plates of one pair are relatively wide while the plates of the other pair are relatively narrow and the narrow plates are disposed between the wide plates. The plates are held together by clamping elements which exert pressure on the wide plates.
In order to increase the versatility of the mold, it has become known to insert one or more dividing walls in the mold cavity. Such a dividing wall is positioned parallel to the narrow plates and divides the wide mold cavity into two narrower casting passages. This makes it possible to simultaneously cast two relatively narrow slabs instead of a single wide slab.
The dividing wall may be secured to the mold at a fixed location. Although the narrow plates of a slab mold are normally shiftable towards and away from one another in order to change the width of the mold cavity, the range of shifting is limited so that mounting of the dividing wall at a fixed location limits the mix of slab widths. Furthermore, the mold must have provision for attachment of the dividing wall thereby requiring fairly significant modification of the mold. In addition, mounting of the dividing wall on the mold and removal of the dividing wall therefrom are inconvenient.
A dividing wall which is shiftable along the width of the mold cavity is also known. Here, the mold is provided with separate clamping elements for the dividing wall which are likewise shiftable along the width of the mold cavity in order to be aligned with the dividing wall. These elements require special structure which again involves relatively significant modification of the mold. Moreover, the dividing wall is inconvenient to manipulate.
The mold of a slab casting machine is generally followed by a series of support zones for a slab formed in the mold. When a dividing wall is inserted in the mold, it is desirable for the first support zone to have a partition in register with the dividing wall. In conventional machines, the partition is formed as a unit with the first support zone. Since such support zone cannot be used for the casting of a single wide slab, different first support zones must be kept on hand. This not only increases equipment costs but also increases the work required to convert the machine from one which casts a single wide slab to one which casts dual narrow slabs. Thus, the first support zone must be interchanged upon conversion of the machine.